Chapter 40 Violence
"Why not?" Qi Xiaopang said it casually before realizing he had asked even though he already knew the answer. They didn't dare to face it because they had something to hide, but...
"Master, you are probably having mobility problems, right?"
Qi Xiaopang carefully made excuses for Ban Bieyi, but Ban Bieyi did not appreciate it and shook his head without hesitation.
"I was self-righteous." Ban Bieyi, not knowing what he was thinking, looked self-deprecating. "I thought I knew who it was."
"Who is it?" Qi Xiaopang asked quickly.
Ban Bieyi looked at the silent Qing Bai with a serious expression as if he was about to explain some important misunderstanding. But he opened his mouth and said, "Actually, it wasn't Zhou Xiaoya who was bullied in school back then, but Gao Tai."
Qi Xiaopang felt that his thoughts could not keep up with the narrative logic of Banbie's intentional jumps.
Qing Bai, who knew more, figured something out and acted as if he was listening attentively.
Ban Bieyi lowered his eyelids and remained silent for a long moment. It was unclear whether he was lost in reminiscence or trying to organize his words. When he spoke again, his voice was a little hoarse: "The platform in junior high school was completely different from now..."
Remembering that the Gaotai they had seen when Qing Bai and the others arrived here was just the 'junior high school student Gaotai', and not the well-dressed financial manager, Ban Bieyi paused, but didn't change his words. "He was a grade-skipper and the only impoverished student in the class. He was younger than the others and a bit malnourished. He was skinny and small, with big black eyes. He looked like... like a little monkey."
Qing Bai recalled the silent eye contact he had with Gao Tai in the classroom when he went to collect the answer sheets, and still felt that he was more like a stray dog... Or maybe Gao Tai ten years ago was not as ruthless as he is now?
"...Looking back now, I can't remember exactly when it all started, or even which side changed first. By the time I realized what was happening, my classmates had already isolated him, teased him, given him malicious nicknames, thrown his schoolbag into the trash, and made fun of his father, who had been in prison... He also suddenly changed, becoming silent and dejected, always looking at people with a gloomy face." Ban Bieyi rubbed his face and smiled bitterly. "It seems like I suddenly went from being one of his friends to his only friend, but actually... I'm very afraid of him."
Every time I turn around and meet those dark eyes, I feel scared.
I was scared when I accidentally saw him staring at someone's back with a gloomy face and narrowed eyes.
I was scared when I found the names of my classmates in his draft book, which were riddled with holes caused by pen tips.
…
As time went by, he couldn't tell whether he was afraid of Gao Tai as a person, or he was afraid that one day he would become depressed and really do the things that existed in his classmates' malicious speculations, so he had to pull him tighter.
He thought that as long as he could get through the last six months of junior high, everything would be fine. With good grades, they could freely choose their school, even get an acceptance letter without taking an exam. As long as they could get through the last six months, they could start over at a completely new school. If Gao Tai wanted to escape alone, that was fine.
He accepted that he would become one of the old people and events that Gaotai could not bear to look back on.
But he didn't expect that he only participated in a small competition that lasted half a day, and when he returned to school, everything had changed... He even forgot what the competition was.
Seeing Ban Bieyi's reaction, Qing Bai finally understood what was going on between him and Gao Tai. Remembering the information in the school newspaper, Qing Bai asked, "Was it Chang Qiuqiu who took the lead?"
Ban Bieyi was a little slow to react: "What?"
Qing Bai took out the school newspaper from his pocket and pointed out the column that listed the class competition winners and the column criticizing Chang Qiuqiu for taking the lead in isolating and bullying his classmates.
Ban Bieyi looked a little confused after reading it. He thought for a while before saying, "If my memory serves me correctly, these two things didn't happen at the same time. The school newspaper is published once a week, so it shouldn't appear in the same newspaper."
"So, judging by the timeline," Qing Bai flipped the newspaper over and pointed at the two notices on the back, "Your winning the competition and Zhou Xiaoya's accidental death happened on the same day. And Chang Qiuqiu's criticism..."
Ban Bieyi was stunned for a moment, and after thinking carefully for a moment, he said uncertainly: "It should be about a month after that."
Qing Bai nodded and then asked, "So she was criticized because she led the campus violence against Gao Tai?"
"No, it's Zhou Xiaoya."
Qi Xiaopang was already confused: "Huh? Teacher, didn't you just say that it wasn't Zhou Xiaoya who was bullied in school back then, but Gao Tai?"
Although they had personally seen those "classmates" behaving strangely towards Zhou Xiaoya in the classroom, when they thought about it later, they felt that it was really deliberate. When they thought about the fact that everything in the gap was controlled by the lord, it was hard not to suspect that the lord was deliberately putting on a show for them.
Qing Bai felt as if he had touched the edge of the truth, and subconsciously turned his head to look at Jiu Nian's reaction, but saw that the man had his eyes half closed, not knowing whether he was in a daze or dozing off, as if all the troubles in the world had nothing to do with him. The last time Qing Bai saw this kind of "indifferent to the world" attitude was on those men who accompanied their girlfriends shopping.
Qing Bai snorted lightly and simply stuffed the newspaper into his hand, then "manually" unfolded it, using the man as a display stand.
Jiu Nian was neither surprised nor annoyed, and did not even resist. He just followed suit and started making the display stand.
Just as they finished their little trick, Ban Bieyi took a deep breath and managed to steady his voice, "Chang Qiuqiu did isolate and bully Gao Tai. It's fair to say that most of the class did the same. But after she was criticized, Zhou Xiaoya became the victim."
"I used to be confused about why the victims would move, but after being trapped here, I seem to understand a little bit..."
Ban Bieyi looked at Zhou Xiaoya's slender figure with a complicated expression. "I know this kind of thing shouldn't be compared... but compared to what happened on the high platform, as Chang Qiuqiu said, what we just saw is just a few gossips. At that restless age, everyone's likes and dislikes were too clear. Some people liked her very much, and some people didn't like her, but..."
"Is liking someone considered violence?" Ban Bieyi asked seriously, as if he was really confused, but that confusion didn't seem to be directed only at Zhou Xiaoya.
Qing Bai and the other two didn't answer, and Ban Bieyi didn't need them to. He continued, "If this is considered school violence, then what about the experiences of those who are trampled upon, bullied, and discriminated against?"
"Just because the school needed to give an explanation, they misidentified a crime they had previously turned a blind eye to, forcing one person's pain upon another," Ban Bieyi's voice trembled, his emotions failing him. "Just because one person was dead, the other was willing to remain mute!"
Qi Xiaopang asked cautiously, "What about Chang Qiuqiu? She admitted to such a serious matter without any explanation?"
Qing Bai shook his head and said, "It's a done deal... Besides, the criticism notice didn't mention who she isolated and bullied. Those who knew would know, and those who didn't would subconsciously connect it to Zhou Xiaoya, who died of illness after being locked in the gym equipment room. Moreover..."
She wasn't innocent to begin with, and there was no way to explain it.
Qi Xiaopang took a deep breath and said, "Is it appropriate to criticize something so vicious in a notice?"
At this point, Ban Bieyi suddenly brought up the question he had previously remained silent on: "Didn't you ask me before how I discovered Zhou Xiaoya was locked in the gymnasium equipment room?"
"Because of the high platform." Jiu Nian, who had been idle for half a day, finally perked up a little.
Ban Biyi nodded, his eyes red and his face pale, looking more like a ghost than those things playing and laughing in the playground.
"Because of the competition, when I returned to school that day, classes were over, with only the last evening study session left. Gao Tai handed me a letter signed by Zhou Xiaoya, and the date on the letter was a week ago."
Ban Bieyi didn't say what the content of the letter was, and there was no need to say it, everyone knew it.
In short, it was because of the letter that Ban Bieyi noticed that Zhou Xiaoya was missing, and in order to give a reply in person, he began to look for Zhou Xiaoya all over the school, and finally found Zhou Xiaoya's body in the sports equipment room.
In this case, the timing of sending the letter is very delicate... Qing Bai thought.
"So, who was that person you thought you knew?"
Ban Bieyi closed his eyes and said word by word, "High platform."
He smiled bitterly again and said, "I was stupid back then. I couldn't find any reason to convince myself why he had to take out the letter that Zhou Xiaoya had asked him to pass on a week ago on that day and at that time."
"No matter how I think about it, I can only come to one conclusion: he just wants me to find Zhou Xiaoya, and the letter is just a perfect excuse."
Qing Bai didn't comment on Ban Bieyi's previous speculation, but instead asked, "What about now? Have you found a reason now?"
Ban Bieyi shook his head: "It's not a reason, it's just that I discovered that there are so many people hidden in this matter that I don't know about. What I thought was just what I thought."
For example, Chen Qiaoxi, who originally had no name in this incident, and Chang Qiuqiu, who was singled out as an example of school violence, and even the principal and the physical education teacher...
Qi Xiaopang's mind was already in a knot, so he decided to simplify the complicated issue: "It's been more than ten years since the incident, and we are not the parties involved. We may not be right no matter how much we guess. It's better to just follow Zhou Xiaoya and see the scene."
Jiu Nian suddenly said, "If this 'Zhou Xiaoya' knew who harmed her, why would the 'class teacher' in the office bother asking them questions?"
Qi Xiaopang suddenly realized: "Oh, that's right..."
I also forgot that the actions of all the 'people' in the crevice were controlled by one person... one soul.
Jiu Nian's words were a timely reminder, but Qing Bai looked at Jiu Nian deeply... This man must know something.
"Does that also mean that the Rift Lord isn't actually Zhou Xiaoya?" Fat Qi analyzed. "After all, apart from the murderer, the victim should know the truth best, right? There's no need to ask... No, no, no, not necessarily. What if she just wants to terrify and torment the real murderer..."
"So they trapped everyone involved in the incident in a crevice, forcing them to relive that day during the day and answer who the real culprit was at night...it was a double torture, both physically and mentally!"
Qing Bai caught a glimpse of Jiu Nian nodding, but suddenly froze halfway through. He couldn't help but smile a little, and deliberately agreed, "It's possible."
"..." Jiunian was silent for a moment, then spoke again to remind, "Rather than torture, the Lord's actions are more about pursuing the truth of that year."
Qing Bai was like a fence-sitter, nodding seriously: "It seems so."
Nine years: "..."
Qi Xiaopang: “…” He felt like he was being treated perfunctorily.
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